


The Songs of Cassiel

by Hokuto



Category: Der Himmel über Berlin | Wings of Desire (1987)
Genre: Angels, Gen, Music, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-25
Updated: 2010-07-25
Packaged: 2017-10-10 19:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/103380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokuto/pseuds/Hokuto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four songs I made and did not sing in the absence of Time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Songs of Cassiel

Once upon a time  
I did not move  
in Time  
I did not live  
in Time (I did not live)  
and four songs I made  
and did not sing  
in the absence of Time.

 

**I. Potsdamerplatz**

This I did not sing  
in Time:

What are you searching for,  
tale-teller,  
in this empty field?  
Your listeners are not here;  
your muse is long since departed.  
Only the unseen hear you now,  
and the story I would have of you  
you do not know.  
How long will you sit silent in your solitary chair,  
waiting for your time  
to return?

 

**II. Dances so sweetly**

This I did not sing  
in time:

In the East I followed you through my land,  
the realm of roof-tops;  
unable to speak,  
I put my hand on your back  
which I could not feel,  
and hid my head in your shoulder  
to hear what I could not feel:  
the steady sea-roar of your blood  
that lived, the sparks of your thoughts crackling  
in Time for the last time.  
And when you flew, briefly, as humans can,  
I turned away -   
but to whom did I cry out "No!"?

 

**III. Taking the plunge**

Of this I did not sing:

Old friend, whose feet touch not  
the sand, as mine,  
you leave footprints.  
You fall away; you go  
where I will not tread.  
Tell me once again your great plans,  
how you will hold her and she will hold you,  
how you will be one -  
and when you touch the rock to your head  
and fall,  
I will catch you and take you into the West  
to live.  
What will you see  
when you open your human eyes?

 

**IV. From Her to Eternity**

And then I could not sing:

This, then, is loneliness:  
to lean against a wall, mute, in the flashing flaring momentary light,  
and remain unseen, unheard.  
This, then, shall be my eternity:  
watching my shadow fragment on the wall  
and remain unknown,  
the shadow of nothing.  
How shall I love, who am not known?  
What shall I love in you, the blind ones fighting  
for breath, struggling for the blood in you to flow, battling  
to live this second, and the next second, and the next -   
what shall I love in (how shall I love)  
you?  
What shall I be, what  
shall I do (what shall I ever do)  
without love, without Time  
(without time for love);  
what can I do but  
turn away from the Presence, from love in Time and love of time   
and hide my face against the wall,  
and say "No," again and  
again "No," forever and always as it was and is and ever shall be  
"No."

 

These songs I made  
and did not sing  
when I did not live  
in Time.


End file.
